


Top Dog (on hiatus for rewrite)

by ilse_writes



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Androids (Detroit: Become Human), Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Detroit Police Department (Detroit: Become Human), Explicit Language, Freeform, Gavin Reed Being an Asshole, Gavin hates werewolves, Gen, M/M, Markus is an asshole, Mentions of Masturbation, My own take on werewolves, No Twilight shit, Police case work, Reluctant Partners, Scary dreams, Stupid dog jokes, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has a Different Name, Upped the rating because they sure are swearing a lot, Werewolf Amanda, Werewolf Connor, Werewolf Culture, Werewolf Markus, Werewolf RK900, partners
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2020-09-26 14:27:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20391187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilse_writes/pseuds/ilse_writes
Summary: Gavin is a cat person, so when he is partnered up with a werewolf, he isn't pleased. He has his own reasons to dislike werewolves and it takes all of his professionalism (and he really means all of it) to make it work with his new partner. Their first real case seems simple at first, but there is more to it than they think. And on top of all that, Gavin has to adapt to the practicalities of having a werewolf partner.





	1. Not one, but two

**Author's Note:**

> I'm throwing this out there for all the world to see while I don't know yet where the story will go. I have some rough ideas, but I guess I'll have to see where the story takes me. I just wanted to share this, because I think it'll be a lot of fun! :-)
> 
> This is my own take on werewolves. Forget the pretty Twilight wolves, they don't look like that. Plus, they shed. A lot. Also, the wolves have some abilities that may remind you of certain androids. 
> 
> If you're an avid Reed900 fanfic reader (like me), you may recognise the names I used in this fic. The names Niles and Arkay are borrowed from great fanfics I read. I used the name Arkay solely to be able to make a bad pun, I'm sorry ;-) And because Nines is neither android nor fully human, I decided he needed a different name. But not too different. Other than the names, I didn't use anything from those (wonderful) fics or characters.
> 
> Enjoy this story! I'd love to hear from you.

Detective Reed remembered the first time there walked a werewolf into the station like it was yesterday. At first he didn't notice. It was not like there strutted a giant dog into the bullpen; barren the days of full moon, werewolves looked like regular people. You had to know what to look for to recognise them. The silent footfalls were one thing, they could be really stealthy if they wanted. Sniffing people out was also a telltale sign: was the person you just met sniffing you just a little too closely? Bet your ass it was a werewolf. Gavin still shuddered when he thought back to the werewolf that nosed his neck at the local gay bar. A warm breath tickling your neck, Gavin was all for that. Even when it was an uninvited action from a stranger; after all, he didn't frequent The Cockpit for its delightful ambiance. It was kind of a dive for a gay bar, you would almost mistake it for a regular Yankee bar. However, tingling sensations down his spine or not, Gavin was quick to shut things down when he realised the man behind him actually _ used _ his nose on him instead of just wanting to heat him up. 

"Whatever, man," was the answer when he told the blond werewolf to fuck off. "You have cats anyway, I hate cats." After a 12 hour shift at work, including a stake out behind a greasy diner, the guy was still able to smell cats on him. Fucking bloodhound. Fucking werewolves. 

Those wolfmen also tended to be abnormally strong and fast. Forget chasing them on foot, there was no way you could catch them. Gavin was pretty fit himself, yet he was no match to these fuckers. Hence the reason why there was one working at the DPD now. Connor Arkay. Or _ Barkay _ , as Gavin called him. If he talked to the guy at all. The werewolf was partnered with Lieutenant Anderson. Not a bad choice: the guy had a slobbering Saint Bernard at home, so he liked big, hairy dogs. Not that Connor was particularly hairy, not when he came into work anyway. He looked all right, handsome even, _ if _ you caught Gavin off guard with the question about Connor’s looks and he forgot for a moment how he was supposed to hate the guy. The werewolf followed Anderson around like a puppy, though at the same time he was a fucking know-it-all that never missed an opportunity to point out Gavin's faults. Fucking annoying.

According to Captain Fowler, their numbers were up since Connor joined the team: more closed cases, more apprehended suspects. And less incidents when dealing with suspects of the werewolf variation. That was good, yet it didn’t mean Gavin had to be nice to Connor. Not when the dude went all alpha dog on him for some stupid jokes and decked him in the middle of the break room on his second day on the team. 

So when Gavin walked into said room one morning and saw a fucking look-a-like standing right next to Connor, he almost wanted to forgo on his coffee. _ Almost _ . He tapped the glass screen of the coffee machine fervently, making his coffee as dark as the pits of hell. Like the pit he was in right now, if what he was seeing over his shoulder was what he thought it was.   
There was Connor, chatting animatedly with Anderson and Miller. And there was Connor 2. Same hair color, same face, same stance. They even had roughly the same build, although number two was taller and a little broader in the shoulders. Gavin was willing to bet good money that those two were closely related. Did he miss a memo? Was it bring your family to work day? Why on Earth were there two Connors here?!

The answer to that question came not fifteen minutes later, when he was called into Fowler's office. Connor 2 was there too, standing on attention behind the two chairs in front of the captain's desk.   
"Reed, meet your new partner. This is -"

"The fuck are you saying?!" Gavin froze halfway before his ass landed on the seat of the chair. He immediately got to his feet again and planted two hands on the desk. "I must have heard you wrong."

Fowler fixed Gavin with a stare. One that told him a new notch on his record was coming up if he kept up this attitude. He had seen this expression many times before. It didn't really stop him.   
"Niles Arkay is joining the force. He will be partnered with you."

"Hell no!" Did they want him working with a werewolf? A fucking Connor lookalike on top of that? What kind of a sick joke was that?! "This isn't the K-9 unit. I don't have time for this bullshit!"

"Shut up, Reed." Fowler's eyebrows were knitted together, his posture rigid. Also a familiar sight, one that meant there was a threat coming. "Get in line, or get out. You either work with him, or you can hand over your badge."

The captain had been up his ass for ages for him to partner up. Gavin had been able to hold it off, working hard to prove he could do it on his own. He didn't _ need _ a partner, yet he got one shoved down his throat anyway. He glared over at the werewolf standing a little behind him. Its face was blank, except for a tiny spark of anger in the eyes. Blue eyes, instead of Connor's brown ones. Ice blue. Ice cold.   
"Fine," Gavin grumbled. "Does it come with a leash?"

"Enough, Reed!" Fowler's hand slammed on his desk. "I've been telling detective Arkay here that I would pair him up with a qualified detective. I already warned him of your lousy attitude, yet I trusted you to be a professional. Don't make me fire your ass over this!"

"_ Detective _Arkay, is it now?" Gavin scoffed. "Just like that?" Unlike people like Gavin, who had to work their ass off to get where they were now. He glared over his shoulder towards the wolfman. "Took a shortcut, huh? Just like your baby brother."

"Connor is three years older than I am." The first words out of its mouth were a correction of something Gavin said. They were brothers, alright!

"I don't give a fuck," Gavin retorted hotly. He stalked out of the captain's glass office without looking back. He needed a smoke and pity on the dumb fucker who tried to stop him. 

Not that anyone stood in his way when Gavin made a beeline for the back exit of the precinct, murderous intent on his face. The first cigarette was gone in a moment's notice. He needed a second one to even begin to calm his nerves; in his jacket pocket he clenched and unclenched his first repeatedly.

Gavin had seen Connor in action. Once in pursuit, where he chased a guy over fucking rooftops as if he was in _ World's Wildest Police Chases _ . He caught the suspect too, a werewolf like him. The both of them didn’t even need to be in their wolf form to pull a fucking stunt like that. And another time when he was with Connor at a crime scene, the sick fuck licked blood of a knife handle to determine whose it was. Turned out, it was the killer's. Connor identified the blood to be of an unknown male instead that of the female victim. Made the case a whole lot easier, not having to wait on the forensic rapport. Still, it was disgusting. Gavin didn't know how Anderson put up with all the weird shit. The guy was not human, for fuck's sake. And now _ he _ was stuck with Connor 2...


	2. Show off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin tries to get a read on Niles, the results are not to his liking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't have a clue about the amount of chapters for this story yet. I'm just gonna feed you little bite-sized chapters every time I feel like it.

Over the top of his monitor Gavin could see his new partner on the back. He had his hip jutted out against the edge of his brother’s desk - _ older _ brother even, how could babyface Connor be the older one of the two? The Arkay brothers were talking to each other, Gavin couldn’t care less about what. Niles had his arms crossed firmly in front of his chest, although he seemed relaxed enough. They had been partners for a week now, and Gavin still didn’t have a good read on the wolfman. He prided himself on being a quick and reliable judge of character - a real perk if you’re a detective - yet he had no idea where to put Niles Arkay.  
The guy was acting on the cold side of polite towards Gavin, never showing disrespect, but not exactly respecting his senior partner either. ‘Passive aggressive neutral’, was how Gavin would describe Niles’ personality. And he was a neat freak, judging by the way everything on his desk had its own spot. Gavin pushed a manilla folder on his desk over the small gap between their desks, wedging the tip of the folder between a row of neatly lined up pens. He watched them roll apart with a feeling of satisfaction. Petty, but who cared? _ He _certainly didn’t, not when he carried multiple grudges against the guy. 

On top of the list was how getting saddled up with a new partner confined him to his desk for the whole week. Fowler didn’t want them out on the streets when ‘they had not proven yet that they would have each other’s backs’. No, scratch that. Fowler literally said he didn’t trust _ Reed _ to have the other’s back; a result of telling the werewolf to fetch him his slippers within earshot of Fowler. Well, _ fuck that _! Gavin might not play well with others, yet that didn’t mean he didn’t look out for his brothers and sisters in blue! It was just a little harder when some of those brothers and sisters - he had heard of a female werewolf at the special victims unit - ran around on all fours whenever the moon was full. Who could guarantee him one of them wouldn’t get it in its wolfbrain to turn on them in the heat of the moment? Animal instincts and all that shit. 

Gavin was counting the days until the weekend. Having two days off was a big plus, yet he was looking forward even more to the following monday. Twice a year they had a training day at a nearby military facility, one where the S.W.A.T. teams of the neighbouring states also trained. He always liked those training days, even though they were mandatory and you had to plan your vacation days around them. Not like he used his vacation days anyway. 

He liked to play pretend and stalk the ghost town for bad guys, gun at the ready and his torso enveloped in kevlar. Being a homicide detective usually didn’t mean seeing a lot of action; after all, he was called in when someone was already dead. Drug related cases were a lot more exciting, as were the werewolf cases that came across his desk occasionally, when Anderson and his pup were swamped.   
Nevertheless, being a detective came with a lot of paperwork, so it was fun to get to play cops ‘n robbers twice a year. All the fun, without the obligatory paperwork afterwards. And now, it was also a chance to prove he wouldn’t let the wolfman get shot on his watch. If they did well, Fowler would lift their ban and he could finally get on with his job like he used to. It would be far easier to forget about the dog tagging along if he was back in the swing of things.

***

Gavin topped up his addiction while standing next to the bus that would take them to the training facility. It was a cold morning, the smoke from his cigarette mingling with his foggy breath. He ignored the morning chatter around him, contemplating whether he had time to go back inside to get himself a coffee. The bus would leave soon. 

Anderson and his pup came out of the station, both holding a steaming cup of coffee. Niles was right behind them, sipping his own coffee.

Niles stopped in front of Gavin. "Here you are, detective." 

Gavin dropped his gaze to the styrofoam cup that was held out to him; a waft of fresh coffee drifted up to his nose. He grabbed the desired drink. "Well, well! Aren't you a good boy!" he drawled teasingly.  
The neutral, somewhat friendly expression on Niles' face transformed into a snarl. It made Gavin wonder for a millisecond if the snarl would be scarier in wolf form or not. He was quick to hold the cup of coffee outside of Niles' reach. "Nuh-uh! No take-backsies!"  
He snuffed his cigarette out underneath his shoe and hurried inside the bus. Niles growled after him, the sound just human enough to hear the word 'ass' in it. 

Gavin entertained himself with his phone during the trip, his knee pulled up on the seat next to him so nobody could sit there. The empty styrofoam cup sat on the unoccupied seat, the last dredges of a black coffee with two sugars on the bottom, exactly how Gavin liked it. The wolfman paid attention, that must be said. Not out loud, of course. And certainly not to his face. 

Captain Allen was waiting for them when the bus arrived. The S.W.A.T. captain oversaw their training today, his unit in the role of bad guys. Their baggy, civilian clothes clashed uncomfortably with their military attitude; you'd never see a bunch of criminals lined up in three rows of six, chins held high and hands clasped behind their backs.   
That changed after Allen got the formalities out of the way and everybody had to gather their gear for the day. Gavin saw Anderson and Allen shake hands, and so did the captain and Connor. It looked more friendly than Gavin expected, they must have met in the field before.

Connor didn't linger, though, and made his way over to two members of the S.W.A.T. team. Niles did the same from the other side, reaching them right before his brother did.   
"Arkay!" the S.W.A.T. member with the beard boomed, gripping the wolfman by the wrist. Niles did the same, repeating the greeting with the other man.   
Connor also did the wrist grip thing, only he combined it with a half hug. Shoulders were slapped jovially and the four seemed happy to see each other, talking animatedly. It was the most outgoing Gavin had ever seen Niles.

"Jealous, Reed?" came Anderson's voice from his left. 

"No." Gavin glared at him, receiving his own kevlar vest after the lieutenant. "Wouldn't surprise me if they started sniffing each other's butts soon."  
At Anderson's disapproving stare, Gavin couldn't help but add a little extra fuel. "Connor do that to you, yet?"

"You're a fucking bigot." Anderson turned his back to him, walking over to the point where they could pick up a gun and ammo. "Try not to get shot!" he shouted over his shoulder.

Gavin made a face and looked back at the Arkay brothers one last time. On second thought, his remark about sniffing each other's butts wasn't too far off: it wouldn't surprise him if there were weres in the S.W.A.T. unit. Those guys were everywhere nowadays. 

They were split in two groups, Gavin’s group going to the gun range first. They started off with some target practice and he was pleased to notice his aim was better than that of his wolf partner. Gavin was a quicker shot, with a more accurate aim, and he wasn’t afraid to let his partner know that.   
“I prefer hand to hand combat,” Niles answered off-handedly, his eyes trained on reloading his gun. 

“Don’t you mean paw to paw combat?” Gavin snickered, not in the least put off by the sharp click of his partner’s safety pall being pulled off. He only put on his earphones again and unloaded his own magazine on the next target. Still better than wolfy. 

The next target practice had them crouching and running from cover to cover and shooting at fixed targets while being on the move. Gavin put in a roll at the end, before popping his last target in the head. 

“I’m sure the criminals will wait until you’re done with your gymnastics show, before shooting you,” Niles said disapprovingly when Gavin sauntered back to the group.

“Stuck up, much?” He smirked and put his gun back in his holster. “Nothing wrong with some showmanship. Why don’t you show me how it’s done then?”

Niles glanced at the bearded guy he was so friendly with before, the burly man who was overseeing this part of practice. The beard split in a grin. “Fine with me, Arkay. Just wait until everybody else has had their turn.”

With veiled curiosity Gavin watched how Niles slowly lost all of his protective gear, his holster and his jacket. He even unfastened the sleeves of his button up, rolling them up meticulously so the cuffs were the same on both sides. Gavin had the urge to undo all of his neat work with one sharp pull.

When the last officer was done, beardman nodded to Niles. Gavin was pretty sure that the beard turned into a snout every full moon: Captain Allen added some wolves to his unit. Meanwhile, his own wolfman got ready at the starting line. He half expected him to transform, yet Niles was still in his human form when beardman gave him the signal to go. What Gavin saw Niles do, was anything but human, however. The tall man showed inhuman agility, leaping and running from target to target, incapacitating them with brute strength. Dummies lost limbs or got thrown through drywalls, Niles not even stopping before moving on to the next target.   
Gavin sweared the guy even had time to throw him a bold wink before folding his tall figure into an unnecessary roll, popping up at the back of the last target, severing head and torso with one strong twist of his hands. 

Niles walked back towards an audience that was stunned into silence, calmy unrolling his sleeves and fastening his cuff buttons again. Gavin couldn’t help but admire what he had seen. Yet on the other hand it also scared him. If his so-called partner could do _ this _ while he was still in his human form, what kind of hell would be unleashed if he transformed?! He was pretty sure he wasn’t the only officer who had these kind of thoughts, there was an uneasy silence over them as Niles was almost back at his starting point. 

Beardman broke the silence, shoulder checking Niles with an easy grin. “Always a show off!”

That got people talking, but not in the way Gavin expected. Most spectators expressed their admiration, telling Niles it was cool what he did. The detective frowned. Didn’t they just see the same thing as he did? Niles was a fucking killing machine. A ruthless monster wrapped up in a pristine, white button up and navy slacks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life with kids and a job is a busy life. Updates will be irregular.  
Any feedback is much appreciated and will help me shape this story.


	3. Things I don't like about you

The wariness quickly settled into Gavin’s bones; the way he was looking at his partner had drastically changed. He had been wary of werewolves ever since he learned of their existence - in the hard way - in his teenage years. However, he had always assumed they were the most dangerous in their wolf form. The humanoid werewolves he encountered on the job were often no more than muscled criminals, sometimes so coked up they had nothing but violence on their mind. They were stronger and faster than a regular human, yet they acted much the same. And if they were in their wolf form, sometimes not even fully transformed, it just meant you had to have your gun at the ready. Somehow, his mind had connected their viciousness to being on the wrong side of the law. Like, he knew Connor to be just as strong and fast as those werewolf thugs, yet his brain never made the connection to killing. And here was Niles Arkay, a werewolf newly made police detective, pulling training dummies apart for breakfast. 

After a short break it was time for Gavin’s team to enter ‘Ghost Town’, as the urban part of the training facility was dubbed. Captain Allen’s men were spread out over the buildings and alleys, with one building designated as their home base. Gavin listened to Allen giving them the scope, his finger moving between interest points on a map of the area.  
“You will go in in small teams of four,” Allen said, “each team goes in from their own side of the town.” 

“How many perps?” an officer in front of Gavin asked. 

“Could be eight, could be twelve, depending on where they are holed up,” Allen answered. “The intel on this is unclear.”

“So we’re going in blind?”

The answering grin of Allen told it all. “Gear up, people! Get to your stations.”

Not even half an hour later Gavin was crouch-walking close to the wall of a rundown building. The wolfman was directly behind him, the other two officers behind Niles. The wolf had wanted to run point on this, saying he had the best nose. Gavin shut him down quickly, calling on his seniority; he didn’t want the werewolf to lead them. He could see Niles wanted to argue, yet the junior detective kept his jaws shut. 

They reached the corner and Gavin carefully peeked around it, making sure the bulk of his body stayed hidden behind the wall. The street was empty of people, only banged up cars were parked along the curb. Most of those didn’t have any windows and showed multiple dents and scratches; there was no use in getting new cars every time there was a drill practice. The sixth building on the right showed movement, a figure moving behind the windows upstairs. He signalled for his partner to take a look, turning his head away when Niles moved close past him, taking in the scene for himself.

“Sixt building on the right, upstairs,” Niles confirmed, coming back to his original position.

Gavin nodded. “We’ll have to cross the street. Let’s go.”  
He didn’t wait and checked one last time before sprinting across, using the cars for cover. 

The others followed suit and they made their way to the building undetected. One of the officers stayed behind to post, while the three of them went inside quietly. This time Niles didn’t budge and he was the first to go up the stairs, somehow avoiding every creaky step. Gavin and the remaining officer followed, hitting a few creaks on their way up, cause for Niles to throw them an annoyed look. Gavin hoped the perps would put up a fight, because otherwise he would probably hit his new partner out of annoyance.

There was one room at the front of the building, the door about two arm lengths away from the top of the stairs. Niles crouched over, glanced inside and was on the other side of the doorway in the same second. He put two fingers up and pointed towards the room. Gavin grabbed his gun a little firmer and a few seconds later they were going in. Both perps were armed, yet only one of them was carrying his gun on his body. The other had put the gun in the windowsill. Niles tackled the armed perp, sending his gun skidding across the floor. Gavin held the other on gunpoint, shouting instructions for the guy to get down on his stomach. The perp reluctantly did as asked, his eyes darting across the room. The detective had to make a run for it when the man tried to reach for his gun, blocking his path effectively by kicking him across the torso so he went sideways before he could get up. His boot connected with the kevlar underneath the ragged hoodie, so he probably didn’t cause the other too much pain. He grabbed the gun from the windowsill and put it at the back of his pants after checking the safety was on. The officer handcuffed the man on the floor, hands behind his back. Niles was doing the same to the perp he tackled.

“Not much left for us to do here,” came Anderson’s voice from the doorway. Him and Connor stepped into the room, the rest of their team probably still downstairs. 

“Did you came looking for scraps?” Gavin looked sourly upon the Arkay brothers, Connor clapping Niles on the back for a job well done.

“Back-up, actually,” Connor spoke up cheerfully. “We found a building with at least ten persons inside. We were just discussing how to deal with it, when we saw you guys.”

“Can’t do it alone, huh?” Gavin smirked, his voice still cold. “I thought you werewolves were supposed to be different from us humans. Being outnumbered shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Connor bristled. “Are you suggesting we’re not human?” He looked like he wanted to jump Gavin, yet Niles put a hand on his arm to hold him back, whispering something to his brother. Gavin rolled his eyes at the display: he didn’t need protection from Detective Barkay. The guy packed a mean punch, yet where Gavin was concerned it was a free game now. They were not at the station; if the wolf wanted to rumble, he was up for it.

At the same time, Hank Anderson sighed heavily. “Wolves hunt in a pack, Reed. Are you in, or not?” The lieutenant crossed his arms in front of his chest, making himself bigger and declaring dominance; he actually wouldn’t make a bad wolf himself, if he acted like this. Too bad the times he was like this were sparse. 

Gavin glanced around at the people in the room with him. The guys they handcuffed had made themselves comfortable on the floor, chatting quietly with each other. They would be picked up after the training exercise was over and they seemed content to wait. As for his colleagues, they all seemed eager to get to the next spot, happy to hunt some fake criminals. And yes, that was also Gavin’s objective for today; he just wasn’t that thrilled to be doing it with werewolves. Choosing defeat for the moment, he grumbled an affirmative, waving his hand towards the door. 

On his way down the stairs Gavin checked the gun he had taken from the criminal. Just like his own, it was loaded with blanks. It was a little bigger than his own gun - standard police issue, not as comfortable in his hand, though it would do anyway. A few steps below him he saw Niles doing the same, the tall man not weighing the gun around in his hand like Gavin had done. Bigger hands, of course, courtesy of being almost a feet taller than the detective. Gavin filed the thought away in his imaginary folder labeled ‘Things I don’t like about the wolfman’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short one... My work schedule doesn't leave me much time to write, unfortunately. So we'll be doing this one bit by bit, I hope you don't mind.


	4. Sniffing you out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The training day in Ghost Town continues. Gavin manages to get himself a new temporary partner, getting rid of Niles for the moment. Yet that comes back to bite him in the ass, big time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little longer chapter this time. Enjoy!

The building Connor was talking about was in the middle of Ghost Town, conveniently sitting on the corner of a big intersection. Being the tallest building on the block, it made a perfect look out: they could see someone coming from all sides. It was also bigger on the inside, Gavin knew from earlier training exercises. It was connected with the adjoining buildings, a labyrinth of narrow corridors and a different floor plan for every level of the building. You needed a large team to take down a building like that, so when they encountered Tina’s team on the streets, they quickly had them tag along. Now they outnumbered the perps twelve to ten, counting on Connor’s intel being correct.

Anderson, being the highest in rank, took point, instructing them to stay close to their partner. Gavin coughed. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to divide ourselves more evenly? Teams of a lieutenant and a detective, or two detectives, seem a bit top heavy.”  
That earned him angry glares from the Arkay brothers and Anderson narrowed his eyes at him, yet there were some officers that mumbled in agreement with his statement. Their usual police work wouldn’t bring them in this kind of situation any time soon, these kind of training exercises were meant to prepare them for ‘what if’-situations, even if those situations hardly ever came along. Storming a building was more up the alley of the S.W.A.T. team; so, Gavin reasoned, there was actually a legit reason for him to split up with his partner, at least for the moment. He could use some air, free from dog hair.

Tina spoke up clearly over the murmur. “We do have some rookie officers with us. No offense, Madani.” Her new partner, a 23-year old man called Ashem Madani, smiled self-consciously. He was one of the newbies who started not even two months ago. 

“Fine,” Anderson gave in. “All rookies are to be partnered up with an experienced officer. Madani, you’re with Reed.”  
Tina told him she was quite content with her new partner, so Gavin didn’t mind being partnered with the young Iranian. He still had a lot to learn, like all rookies, but he was eager to bring his A-game. 

It was soon clear that they _ all _ needed to step up their game, because Allen’s team had really entrenched themselves in the building. Blank shots were fired and they were soon scattered across floors. The whole thing was turning into a figurative bloody mess at an alarming pace; the two perps Gavin and Niles took down earlier clearly made it easy for them.   
The only good news was that the criminals were just as scattered throughout the building as the police officers, making it - perhaps - possible to take them out one by one. It was a mess, but Gavin was looking for the bright side. Wherever it was. If he wanted to save face, he would have to prove it was a good idea to switch up their partners. Even if it meant disregarding Anderson’s orders. “Follow me, Madani!”

“But…” The young officer was puzzled for a second, looking between the empty hallway they were supposed to go down to and the door to the stairway his temporary partner was holding open for him. Reed’s angry glare made him forget his doubts and he quickly followed the detective up the stairs.

If Gavin remembered correctly, this stairway came out on a small landing, with two steps to the left and the right, each leading to a hallway with offices. The right would take them to the streetside of the building, were it was most likely they would find the mock criminals. Allen’s team didn’t stay put in one spot in the building, they were on the move; however, if they wanted to keep an eye on things, they would need to look out the windows on the streetside every now and then, right?  
A small tingle of relief washed over the rush of adrenaline momentarily when they found one criminal in the front room. He was looking down to the streets, holding a phone to his ear. He was telling someone about a new team of police officers he saw down on the street. It would be best to wait until he was done talking before they took him down, as not to alert the other criminals to their position. The thing was, Gavin was not known for his patience. So he ran into the room, using the element of surprise. It worked, partly thanks to Madani’s back-up. With some words of excuse they locked the S.W.A.T. member in a built in closet, taking his phone away from him.

“I’ll leave it by the window,” Madani offered the fake criminal, before closing the door of the closet.

They were about to go back to the landing to check the other rooms, when they suddenly heard a noise. Someone came up the stairs. It was impossible to know whether it was friend or foe, not with the way they were all dispersed over the building. Gavin cursed the lack of radios not for the first time this day. They had no means of communication, all part of the exercise.  
Gavin was not planning to get inside the closet to hide, yet with no other place to use for cover, it left them with no other option than to go on the offense. Madani nodded tersely in agreement, his hands squeezing his gun. 

It was a matter of seconds before someone would come into the room. They got in position and…

Gavin was tackled to the floor, his gun being knocked from his hand forcefully. His attacker was taller than him, all muscle and strong, long limbs. People were shouting, a shot was fired into the ceiling and the detective tried to fight off his attacker even though the wind was knocked from his lungs by the tackle. He was wrangled onto his stomach, his arms trapped high on his back. It ached all the way to his shoulders, the pain in his muscles sharp and very much unwelcome. A warm, firm weight sat on his upper legs, just below his butt, immobilizing his legs. His chin scraped along the bare, concrete floor in his struggle and he knew it would be one of those annoyingly painful scrapes, red for days to come.

All of a sudden, everything stopped. The grip on his arms disappeared, his attacker leaning back and putting more pressure on his legs because of it. “Reed?”

Gavin may not have known that voice for long, though he recognised it in a heartbeat anyway. He turned with sudden fury, knocking the wolfman off his back. Niles fell to the side, quickly stabilising himself in a kneeling position. Gavin jumped to his feet and grappled for his gun, pointing it at Niles as soon as he had the gun gripped properly.   
“What the hell, you cock sucker! What did you do that for?!” he yelled, taking a step closer so there was no way in hell he would miss that asshole’s face. 

There were people shouting again, mostly directed at Gavin this time. Telling him to put down his gun, to not react so dramatically. Meanwhile, the wolfman who attacked him got to his two feet, holding his hands out with the palms up. He could pretend to be harmless all he wanted, the harm was already done. 

Someone put a hand on his arm, probably Madani, yet Gavin shook him off and took another step closer towards Niles. He was close enough to press the barrel of his gun to his chest. Niles was wearing kevlar and the gun was loaded with blanks, yet from this range he could at least hurt him. A lot.   
“What the fuck, Lassie! I thought you guys were supposed to smell better than a bloodhound. You _ knew _ I was there! Why the fuck were you attacking me?!” Gavin pushed the gun in Niles’ kevlar vest with every other word. “I should put you down, just like Old Yeller, you useless _ dog _!” 

That, finally, got a reaction out of Niles, who growled and ripped the gun away from his chest. “You better watch your words,” he threatened lowly. 

Gavin went in for a punch. Granted, it wasn’t his good arm, yet he managed to land a fairly decent hit anyway. The wolf growled for real this time and for a split second Gavin felt something like fear. 

And then there were hands on him from both sides, pulling him away from Niles, people doing the same to his so-called partner.

“Stop it! The both of you!” Tina yelled. How did she get here? With the heat of his anger fading away a little, Gavin saw how the room was filled with people. Some were his colleagues, others were members of the S.W.A.T. team he was supposed to be hunting down this afternoon. And they all stared at him, as if he was the only one at fault here.

“Better tell _ him _ to stop. Fucking assaulted his partner!” Gavin rubbed the sore spot on his chin angrily. 

“I didn’t know that was you!” Niles spat back. “The fuck were you doing here anyway? This was our floor!”

“What? Did you pee-mark this floor to make it yours?”

The men that held Niles back had to tighten their grip on him to prevent him from lunging at Gavin. The detective snarled at the wolfman, daring him to escape his restraints, he was aching for a good brawl. 

“What the fuck is going on here?” boomed a loud voice. Lieutenant Anderson came in, his loyal pup right behind him. Connor darted to his brother’s side as soon as he saw him, frowning at the situation that had the detective pair being restrained.

“That fucking idiot jumped me!” Gavin accused furiously, pulling his arm out of Madani’s grasp to point his finger at his partner. His gun was already in somebody else’s hands. 

Seeing the lieutenant raise his eyebrows in question, Niles explained how he had tackled Gavin to the floor. “I thought he was somebody else, sir.”

Gavin rolled his eyes at the attached honorific, the wolf was trying to be a goody two-shoes. “How could you not know it was me?! You’re supposed to smell it is me from a mile away.” He turned towards Anderson. “You told me yourself Connor could do that. So what is it? Little Beethoven here got a defected sniffer?”

Anderson only had to look sharply around the room for the people that had nothing to do with this to make themselves scarce. Only Tina and her rookie partner, Connor and two members of the S.W.A.T. team remained.

Connor looked his baby brother over, a puzzled look on his face. “You mistook him for someone else?” 

To Gavin’s pleasure - or astonishment, because he didn’t think he would ever see it happen - Niles blushed ever so slightly from embarrassment. He kept his eyes on the floor when he answered. “They smell the same. Fucking smoke the same cigarettes or something.”

One of the men that was holding Niles by the arm started to laugh. Gavin realised he was one of the wolves on Allen’s team. “Rookie mistake, Arkay.”  
Niles janked his arm back angrily, yet he said nothing to the apparent insult. 

“Who smells the same?” Gavin was getting a bit confused now. 

Niles answered with a jerk of his chin. “You. Him.” He indicated the other S.W.A.T. officer, who was casually watching them with his hands in his pockets. The man looked nothing like Gavin, with his ebony skin and lean builth. It was hard to imagine they smelled alike.

“Hey Malik, you have your smokes on you?” the S.W.A.T. wolf asked his team member. The dark man nodded and lifted a pack of smokes from the front pocket of his jeans jacket. 

“That’s Reed’s brand alright,” Anderson chuckled, having worked long enough with the detective to know his vices.

Tina and Madani followed the exchange with big eyes, looking from one person to the other. They probably didn’t have a clue what to make of this. Although they knew about the werewolves on the force, having both probably as much knowledge about weres as Gavin did, they had little to no experience with werewolves in real life. Tina maybe arrested one once or twice, and Madani probably only knew about them from the courses on minority groups every police officer had to attend. 

Now both partners didn’t need to be restrained anymore, it felt like there were too many people in the room. People should leave. Gavin wanted to leave. He made for the door, only to be stopped by Anderson putting a hand on his chest. “The others can leave, not you.”

Gavin tried to glare a hole in the floor while the room was once more cleared of people. This time only four of them remained, both werewolf detectives and their human partners. He pushed his gun back in the holster on his hip; Tina took the spare gun he had picked up from one of the S.W.A.T. members with her.

It made for a fresh change to not be the one targeted for once. Though Gavin knew he had overreacted to being attacked by mistake, it seemed like that wasn’t the issue at hand here anymore. Connor was frowning at his brother, his hands on his hips like an exasperated mom scolding her kids. “Are you telling me you didn’t learn your partner’s scent, not even for a training mission like today?” He shook his head in disappointment, perfecting the air of ‘I’m not mad at you, I’m disappointed in you’ he was giving off.

"He reeks of coffee and cigarettes all day every day. You’d think that would be enough.” Niles had his arms crossed in front of his chest defensively and he refused to look at anyone in the room. He resembled a cross teenager so much it made Gavin chuckle. That earned him a sour look from his wolf partner and he made a face in return. 

Anderson sighed. “Every other cop reeks of coffee and cigarettes, kid. You can’t rely on that, you will have to learn Reed’s personal scent.”

Connor nodded in agreement with his partner, as if Anderson was the expert on werewolves here. “What’s this?” Gavin asked snappily. “You the big dog now? I didn’t know the weres made you top dog.”

The lieutenant rolled his eyes and huffed; all those years working with Reed made him acquainted with the man’s mannerisms, yet that didn’t mean he liked them. To the contrary. “I’m the superior officer, Reed, that should be enough.”

“Woof,” Gavin gruffed, faking a salute at the older cop. 

“For fuck’s sake, Reed! We’re not dogs!” Niles made a move as if to jump Gavin, though he held himself back when Anderson put his hand up.

“Enough!” Anderson pointed to Gavin and Niles. “The two of you are gonna behave from now on. You’re partners, whether you like it or not. In our line of work that means you have to have each other’s backs, even when you can’t stand the other.”  
He gestured for Niles to come closer. “No more mistakes like this. If you are anything like your brother, you know better.” He put a hand on Niles’ shoulder and pushed him towards Gavin. “Now, get his smell!”

The way Niles glared at Anderson tipped Gavin off that ‘getting his smell’ was something weird or embarrassing. If his partner was opposed to doing it, whatever it was, he most certainly was too. He put his hands up. “Hey now, what’s this shit?!”

Connor stepped forward. “If we want Niles to recognise your scent, he has to learn it thoroughly. You know, like a drug sniffing dog learns to recognise the smell of marijuana.”

“What? You want him to smell my clothes?” 

“Preferably you yourself,” Connor explained with a small smile. “Clothes can smell different when they are washed.”   
Anderson made an impatient huff and Connor gestured to his brother. “You know the drill.”

Niles’ face was a mix of emotions. Anger was easy to recognise and the embarrassment was also hard to hide, although the wolf did his best to mask it with annoyance. “You’re really gonna make me do this, aren’t you?” he mumbled at his brother, as he came closer and closer towards Gavin.

In the next few moments the detective duo got closer than they both wanted. Gavin stood dead still as Niles bowed his head towards Gavin’s throat. The werewolf didn’t touch him, though he couldn’t prevent his warm breath ghosting over Gavin’s skin.

“Remember,” came Connor’s voice from behind them, “you’ll have to go deeper than the superficial scent of nicotine and caffeine.”

Gavin felt the silent growl in Niles’ throat instead of only hearing it and then his heart stopped for a moment as the wolf pushed his nose against the base of his throat. He worked his way up to his ear and Gavin was sure the werewolf could feel his jugular thump irregularly against his nose. As the seconds passed, Niles became a little more sure of himself and he started to use his hands to keep Gavin still as he moved around him. Firm hands held him by his shoulders as the wolf nosed his hair, the same hands turning him around and lifting one of his arms to…

“Is this really necessary?” He hated the way his voice broke on that little sentence. The heat in his cheeks was also something to be deeply resented. He could only be grateful that they were the only people in the room, because by now the werewolf had his nose in his armpit, his hoodie zipped open and pushed out of the way.

“Yup,” Anderson said. “It is if you don’t want me telling Fowler about your fuckups of today.”

“It’ll help you work together,” Connor added, managing to sound genuinely sympathetic. 

So Gavin endured the whole thing, until Niles stepped back and declared that, one, his partner still reeked of cigarettes and coffee, and two, that he was done. He didn’t look at Gavin and that was fine by the detective, he didn’t feel like looking his partner in the eyes after all that too. 

“I feel violated,” he whined softly to himself, zipping up his hoodie up to his chin. Anderson only laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, pushing him towards the door. He took the hint and stalked out of the room, Niles two steps in front of him. The lieutenant and his pup followed them short behind.

“You know giving Niles Gavin’s undershirt would have worked too, right?” Connor asked quietly behind Gavin. “At least for now.”

Anderson chuckled. “I know. This was funnier.”


	5. Clear my head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin needs to wind down after an eventful day. His brain and his body aren't on the same page.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally called 'I'm a cat person', but I keep making up chapter titles and end up pushing them to the next chapter (or the next one after that). So I guess 'I'm a cat person' is coming up in the near future.
> 
> Warning: NSFW-ish. Mentions of masturbation, not the actual act itself.

When Gavin finally stepped out of the bus in front of the precinct at the end of the day, he hightailed it to his car without looking back. He was exhausted and irritated beyond belief; if he had to spend one more minute in the company of his co-workers he would literally explode. Like, blood and guts everywhere, brain matter sprinkled on top. 

Luckily, home was only a twenty minute ride away from the station, a ride he miraculously completed without traffic violations. No big ones, anyway. On auto pilot he opened his mailbox in the lobby of the apartment building he’d lived in for the past six years; upgrading his living situation was one of the first things he did when he made detective. It was a nice building, eight stories high, with decently sized balconies and a janitor who lived in one of the ground floor apartments. He sifted through his mail on his way up in the elevator: the Police Department Bulletin, a bill from the vet and a birthday card. One day early, as usual. The card had no writing on it except for the initials E.K., also nothing new. When Gavin stepped inside he dropped the birthday card straight into the recycling bin, the bill and the bulletin found their way onto his kitchen counter. 

The sounds from rummaging through his kitchen in search of his dinner made his cats come out. Pepper jumped on the counter and Gavin shoved her down to the floor in one fluent, practiced motion. The dark-haired tabby mewled offendedly and turned her body around his legs a couple of times before she jumped up the small kitchen table. She was soon joined by her lighter-haired sister, Salt, who took a seat on one of the two chairs.   
Gavin sighed and opened up a can of cat food for them, both girls perking up when they heard the sound. They had their heads in their bowls as soon as he put them down, shoving his hands to the side. “Greedy, little bastards,” Gavin murmured fondly, stroking their backs before he stood up again. 

For himself he heated up some leftover lasagna, grateful that his neighbour had gifted him a generous portion of the Italian food that weekend. Mrs. Bell was a sweet old lady whose late husband used to be a cop; she had a soft spot for Gavin because of his occupation and often presented him with containers of home made food. In return he looked after her cat when she went to visit her sister every other week and he helped her with little chores around the house that she didn’t want to call the janitor for. 

Gavin turned the tv on for some background noise and sat down on his couch, the container of heated up food in his lap. However, instead of starting to eat it, his hand with the fork rested on the edge of the container and he let his head fall back against the couch. His built up frustration came out with a groan that ended in a deep sigh. Today had been a challenge, in more than one way. Everything that happened today, everything that was bad or just plain sucked, came back to his partner: Niles Arkay, the werewolf detective.  
“Fucking mongrel,” Gavin grumbled towards the ceiling. 

Something warm and soft nudged his wrist and he quickly sat up again to chase Pepper away from his food. “No lasagna for you,” he scolded light-heartedly, “way too much salt.”  
The dark-haired cat sat down next to him, keeping her eyes fixated on the fork that went to and fro between her owner’s mouth and the food container. Quiet movement behind his back told him Salt had taken her usual spot on the backrest of the couch, close to his shoulders. Gavin ate in silence, watching but not seeing what was happening on tv. His mind kept going in circles, alternating between Niles who mutilated dummies like they were paper dolls and the memory of the warm breath of the wolfman on his neck. 

The detective dumped his empty food container in the sink and disappeared into the bathroom. Maybe a hot shower would help ease his mind. 

It did not.

The warm water that streamed down his chin irritated the scrape there, reminding him of how Niles tackled him to the floor. The shower soothed the sore muscles in his shoulders, yet that was also a reminder of how Niles pinned him down. Gavin abruptly switched to cold water when the tactile memory of a firm weight pressing down against his lower buttocks crept up on him. He needed to get his mind under control. He needed to get his partner under control. He would not let a dog dictate him what to do.

***

“Pavlov!” Gavin repeated the shout of the name a couple of times before cursing under his breath. Where the hell did that fucking dog go?! He stared off into the undergrowth of the forest that formed the border of the Kamski home’s backyard, in search of the small white dog that disappeared in there. He had to get the dog back, he knew it, he would never hear the end of it if he let Elijah’s precious dog escape.   
“I fucking hate dogs,” Gavin grumbled as he took the first step into the forest. The sun had set about an hour ago, enveloping the forest in darkness. The moon had just risen, full, hidden behind some thin clouds.   
Pavlov was a stupid, little yapper who had chewed on more than one of Gavin’s shoes, for all he cared the dog would run into a coyote and get eaten. Nice little snack for the wild dog. Ga vin stumbled through the dark forest, losing his footing every now and then when his feet got caught in vines. “Pavlov! Damn it, get back here you stupid mutt!”

The white dog was anything but a mutt, bought from a high end breeder and getting his monthly grooming at some dog salon downtown. Gavin was pretty sure his stepmother spent more money on that dog than she spent on him. It was one of the reasons he had to find the damned animal before she got home from her visit to a friend. His father and Elijah were off for the weekend, visiting some lecture or something. No matter that this was the weekend that Gavin was visiting, his father took his youngest son to go to a lecture the little nerd wanted to attend, even when it was two states over and would take the whole weekend. So Gavin was all alone in the big house tonight, with a small dog that ran off on him when he let it out in the backyard because it kept scratching at the backdoor. 

He cursed and started calling for the dog all over again. The forest wasn’t silent; when he stood still he could hear all sorts of sounds. Rustling leaves, the squeaking of small animals, the creaking and crunching of branches, all kinds of shit Gavin didn’t actually want to hear, so he kept going.   
The lights of the house weren’t visible anymore by the time Gavin finally heard the dog’s familiar, annoying bark. High yaps that used to annoy him now sounded like music to his ears.  
“Pavlov! Here boy!” Gavin slapped his hands on his jeans clad legs to lure the dog to him. He didn’t see the animal, but it had to be close.

There’s some noise in the bushes in front of him and Gavin strained his eyes to spot the dog. It should be close to the ground, it wasn’t that big. So when he saw eyes reflect what little light there was in the forest, he knew those eyes were too far off the ground to be Pavlov’s beady eyes. They’re also too far apart, he noticed at the same time he heard the low growl coming from the animal. A beast. A big motherfucking beast.   
Gavin’s mind started to race. What should he do? Run away in zig zags? No, that was for alligators. Climb a tree? What if it was a bear? They could climb trees, right? Maybe it was a coyote, you could scare those away by making loud noises. It was some big fucking coyote, though. It was too dark to see much, Gavin could only see a large, dark shape slowly advance on him. And that low growl kept coming from the animal’s throat, making Gavin break out in cold sweat. 

“Fuck off!” he yelled at the animal, clapping his hands as loud as he could. “Shoo! Get out of here!” His voice broke embarrassingly on those last words, showcasing his nerves. He clapped his hands again, shouting some wordless shit, just to make noise. 

Coyotes ran from that stuff, yet those reflective eyes still stared at him unblinkingly. This was trouble. Gavin started to track back backwards, step by step. Until the creature moved and Gavin tripped over a tree root.

_ Fuck _ .

***

Cold sweat. His heart beat like a nineties drum machine. Fingers dug in the blankets as he jolted upright in the middle of the night. 

Gavin focused on the digits of his alarm clock, yellow in the black of the room, as he calmed himself down one breath at a time. It was that motherfucking dream again. The same dream that had been haunting him ever since that creature attacked him. Not a coyote, it was bigger than that. Not a wolf either, it wasn’t enough like a dog for that, even though the police said the claw and teeth marks on his body resembled those of a large canine. Other options were more exotic, not native to the area, like a mountain lion or a lynx. All those choices didn’t feel right to fifteen year old Gavin, even though nobody believed him. Well, yes, Elijah believed him, but he was far more interested in the origin of the creature than his half-brother’s trauma.

There’s a flash of the creature’s face in his memory, too distorted to be real. Some snippet images of the body. The jaws with the large, sharp teeth, patches of fur instead of a full coat, the long limbs that didn’t seem to belong to any animal Gavin knew. 

And, this time, this night, the distinct features of Niles in the face of the animal.

Gavin shook his head forcefully to dispel the remnants of the dream from his thoughts, at the same time shaking off his own hand from unconsciously rubbing the scar across the bridge of his nose. The discolored and slightly warped skin there was a daily reminder of what happened back then. He knew from experience the dream would only come back if he tried to get back to sleep right away, so he hauled his legs over the edge of the bed and stumbled to the bathroom. He relieved himself without turning the lights on and was halfway on the way back to his bed when he changed his mind. There were too many werewolves on his mind, the one from his past and the ones from his current life. He needed a distraction, something to take his mind off people who turned into lethal animals. 

Salt huffed offendedly when he flopped down on the couch, his head bumping against her furry behind. The cat pushed herself back to stretch her spine, pushing her tail in his face before she moved to the other end of the backrest of the sofa. Gavin reached out to run his fingers through her fur as an apology and turned on the tv. At this time of night there wasn’t much to watch, nothing of quality anyway, yet there should be  _ something _ to take his mind off werewolves, right? He flipped through the channels, skipping past reruns of daytime tv, documentary kind of shows about fishermen who froze their asses off for a good catch and commercials from local lawyers and realtors. Night time tv was a steaming pile of shit. At times like these Gavin considered getting himself a paid account for one of those streaming on demand companies. On the other hand, he hardly watched tv besides the news and the occasional nature documentary. For all the other things, he had the internet. So he turned to that this night too, scrolling past a variety of websites until he wound up in the NSFW corner of the internet. What better to clear your head than some good old porn?

*** 

Gavin woke up on his couch with a crick in his neck and a tent pitched in his sleeping pants. A ‘leaky tent’ for fuck’s sake, that hadn’t happened to him in years! When he sat up he nearly squashed Pepper, who had curled up in the nice little corner behind his bent legs. The cat wanted to climb in his lap to say good morning and Gavin quickly shooed her off. He needed a shower. And some clean underwear. 

Underneath the running water Gavin wondered why his dick was that enthusiastic in the morning. Didn’t he already rub one out in the dead of the night? He was not a fucking teenager anymore! Scrubbing himself with the shower wash, he tried to recall what he dreamed about. The first thing that came to mind was the porn he watched, he ended up watching a fifteen minute flick he’d watched a couple of times before. It showed two males getting it on in a dimly lit storage room after meeting at a bar. The whole thing focused mostly on the top, with the bottom being a brown haired male who was a few inches shorter than his partner. Gavin wasn’t actively admitting that the bottom resembled himself enough to make fantasizing it was him in that storage room easier, but it was. And the top, well, he was Gavin’s favourite porn star, if he had a favourite at all. Tall, lean and with a jaw that could cut. 

_ And he looked like Niles. _

Gavin froze at that realisation, his brain happily feeding him with the images from the porn flick. The tall guy opening the buttons of his shirt one by one, a white button up just like Niles often wore.  _ Like half the male population wears, Gavin reminded himself. _ Hands roaming over broad shoulders and fingers threading through dark brown locks. Burying his face in the other’s neck, much like Niles had done with him the other day.  _ For a whole different purpose, Gavin bristled internally.  _

He forcefully shut his mind down, together with the shower. This was just his brain fucking with him. He should not have watched porn after such a stressful day that had him up and close to the wolfman against his will. Not when it had been an awful long time since he last got laid. Right, that must be it. He just needed to get laid. As soon as possible, preferably tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about that annoying ? for the total amount of chapters this thing is gonna have. I'm still unsure, so instead of having to change it every time, I leave it open. Maybe ten to fifteen chapters? I dunno. :-)
> 
> Do you have anything you would like to see happen in this story?
> 
> * Just a quick note to let you people know I'm working on the timeline for this story. There are a lot of things I want to tell and I'm having a bit of trouble with finding the right order for them. So the next update will take some time, I'm sorry. Quality over quantity, am I right? :-P *


	6. Confetti and beer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Gavin's birthday. Things with Niles are strained, very strained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They really don't like each other.

She got him when he was standing by the coffee machine, deciding between an espresso and a regular black coffee.   
"Happy birthday Gav Gav!" the Asian woman that now clung to his back sing-songed loudly in his ear. Gavin tapped the espresso button twice, making it a double. 

Tina overlooked that she was being ignored and climbed down to wriggle herself between Gavin's front and the coffee machine. She grabbed his face and planted a loud kiss on each of his cheeks. "I see you are as happy as always! Good to know you don't change, you only age."

"Fuck off, Teens," Gavin grumbled without real heat behind it. She was his dearest friend ever since the academy, talking shit was their thing. 

"Where do you wanna go tonight?"

Shit, Gavin kinda forgot about their dinner and drinks birthday tradition. Oh well, he could probably combine it with his own plans, Tina was no clock block. He picked up his paper cup from the machine and raised it towards her. "Somewhere where the asses are tight and the morals loose."

Tina whistled between her teeth. "Big plans, huh?"

He grinned wolfishly. "It's my birthday."

She shook her finger at him in mock warning before she turned to get her own coffee from the machine. “Shoo, off to work. And try to keep your mind out of the gutter until you’re ready to clock out.”

Gavin walked to his desk, contentedly nursing his coffee. His desk was hardly to be seen underneath the confetti avalanche. He cursed and turned on his heels to see Tina giving him the thumbs up from the other side of the bullpen. He returned the gesture with another, less friendly finger. 

He cleared some space with his arm and sat down, putting his coffee cup down in the inch thick layer of confetti. Last year she decorated his desk in pennants with his own face, a silly crown photoshopped on his head. Dozens and dozens of crowned Gavin's for his crown year. The confetti was more tolerable, it was very unsettling to have your own face staring back at you the whole time.

"Jezus Christ, Reed! Did you fuck a clown on your desk?" Anderson walked by, clapping him on the shoulder to acknowledge Gavin's birthday. 

"At least it had a happy ending," Gavin deadpanned, not bothering to look up from his screen. Not that there was much to see, he hadn't even opened his email yet. Anderson didn't wait for the reply either, he was already by his own desk. After all, they weren’t buddies.

"Happy birthday, detective," sounded another voice from behind him. At this rate, his email didn't get read until the afternoon. 

He turned his head slightly to see his partner. The werewolf had a cup of coffee in his hand and eyed the almost empty cup of espresso on Gavin's desk.   
"Aww, thanks, Snoopy! Did you bring me my birthday coffee?" Gavin put his hand out to receive the hot drink. 

Niles handed it over with a sudden angry glare. "Don't choke on it," he huffed and turned away to get to his own desk. 

Gavin took a sip. Black, two sugars. The dog knew how he liked his coffee. Speaking of the dog, the were shoved a small box wrapped in blue paper over the ridge between their desks. “What’s this? Coffee _ and _ a present? I would almost think it’s my birthday.”

“Fuck off, Reed. Just take the damn thing.” Niles his obvious irritation made Gavin feel pretty good. He’d been prepared for an awkward morning after dreaming about his new partner in more ways than one. But it looked like Niles was the one who was awkward today and _ that _ was something Gavin could work with.

He leaned over his desk and picked up the blue box; something solid bumped against the side of the box when he tipped it a little. “You know,” he told the were, “you didn’t have to get me a gift. It’s not like we’re friends or anything.”  
The wolfman clenched his jaws visibly. _ Oh yeah _ , Gavin was really getting under his skin today, and it wasn’t even noon yet!  
“How did you know it was my birthday anyway? We’ve only been working together for a day and a half.” Okay, it was longer, but still.

“Maybe I saw your personal details at the intranet when I first heard we were going to be partners,” Niles said through clenched teeth. “Maybe I thought it’d be nice to get my new partner something for his birthday.”

Gavin chuckled humorlessly. “Who knew you’d be such a decent guy?”

“Who knew you’d be such an ass?”

“Ask anybody,” the detective answered airily, gesturing around him with the blue gift box. “They’ll all tell you I am the resident asshole around here.”  
He tore into the blue wrapping paper, exposing the lid of a small brown box. “You could always save the gift for someone else, you know?”   
Then he lifted the gift from the box: a black coffee mug with his first name on it in bold, white letters. “Someone else whose name is also Gavin.”

Niles didn’t answer anymore, instead he continued to ignore Gavin for the best part of the day. That was fine by the detective, it was not like they had something special to do anyway. Not until they were cleared for field duty by Fowler. 

They spent the whole day on getting rid of backed up paperwork, like they had been doing for most of the week already. Gavin didn’t mind doing paperwork to close a case, but this had been tedious from day one. He’d even closed some files for Anderson and _ Barkay, _for fuck’s sake!

It wasn’t until the last hour of their shift that Fowler called them both into his office. Gavin was hopeful for their ban to be lifted, so hopeful he even managed to listen to Fowler’s rant without talking back. Despite Anderson’s promise to keep their little fuck up in Ghost Town under wraps, the captain still got wind of it; and he tore them both a new asshole over it. Still, Gavin had worked here longer than today, so he knew the captain did not call them into his office just to chew them out. If that was the case, he would’ve done so first thing in the morning. So he just waited until Fowler was out of breath and sunk his big body back into his chair. 

“I’m sure we’ll do better in the field, sir,” Gavin said, getting a wide eyed look from Niles. The werewolf was pale and looked a bit shaken by his captain’s angry rant. _ Like a kicked puppy _, Gavin’s mind supplied helpfully, almost making him smirk.

Fowler glared at him and grumbled something unintelligible in the back of his throat. Then he pushed a tablet in his direction, Gavin had to grab it quickly before the thing tipped over the edge of the desk. “You better,” he said. “Because I need all hands on deck.”

Gavin scanned the case file on the tablet, picking up on the key words. He looked up to his captain with a frown. “You want us on a hate crime?”

“There are suspicions it’s not just one, solitary case. That’s why this got bumped up.” Fowler looked disgruntled, as if he was doing this only because he had no other choice. And maybe he hadn’t, the department sure was swamped with work.   
“Now get out of my office. There’s an interview scheduled with the victim for tomorrow morning.”

Gavin nodded, taking his leave without looking back at his partner. The ban was lifted, now he could finally get back to doing some real work, instead of sitting on his ass behind his desk all day. But first, he had to go sit on his ass behind his desk, to read the case file. No way he was going to show up to that interview unprepared, not when there was so much at stake. Maybe Fowler didn’t say it in so many words, but Gavin knew the results of this case would affect their future cases. If they fucked this up, they could kiss all the interesting cases goodbye. 

***

Tina had to pull him from his desk at to go get dinner with her. At least he had the ground work done for the case, highlighting all the important details that were known yet and together with Niles he had also made some preliminary links to other cases that might be connected to theirs. 

They had dinner at their usual place, a diner not far from the police station. The place didn’t look like much from the outside, but they had the best burgers in town. After that, Gavin had his wish and they went to a bar. There wasn’t much choice on a tuesday evening, but Gavin wasn’t that picky. He had expected this day to be much shittier, yet it had turned out to be a pretty good birthday after all. And the best part had yet to come: alcohol! And maybe getting some ass, if he was really lucky. 

Tina put her phone away when they got out of the taxi. “The others are already inside.”

“Others?” Gavin must have heard her wrong. His friend didn’t react and proceeded to walk inside the bar. Over dinner they had decided on Ryan’s Pub, a bar that was known to attract a wide audience. More importantly, it was gay friendly, so Gavin might get lucky.  
How diverse the public at Ryan’s was, showed when Gavin set foot inside. At the far end of the bar he saw some familiar faces. “What are they doing here?” he hissed at Tina.

“Celebrating your birthday,” she answered upbeat. “You know, like friends do.”

“They’re not my friends.”

“You don’t _have_ any friends, Gav. Might as well start making some.” She pushed him towards the small gathering of DPD’s finest. 

Anderson was there, with his lapdog and its little brother. Tina’s partner Madani was also present, along with Miller. The last one shook Gavin’s hand jovially. “Happy birthday, Reed!”

“Thanks, I guess,” he muttered in reply. He felt like someone pulled the rug from underneath him. Luckily Tina immediately ordered a round of drinks and with a fresh beer in his hand Gavin soon felt a little better.

To be honest, the evening wasn’t all that bad. The music was good, there was actually quite a crowd, and between Miller, Madani, Tina and Connor there was even some good conversation to be had. Anderson just sat on his bar stool and looked over them with a half smile. Tina and Connor got louder with every beer and Gavin found he could actually tolerate the were tonight. His little brother was another story, with how he sat rigidly on his barstool, nursing a coke. The were had declined every offer of alcohol, insisting he didn’t drink. 

With their small group he couldn’t avoid ending up next to Niles at some point in the evening and Gavin decided to throw a dog a bone for once.  
“Thanks for the coffee mug.”

Niles glanced at him in surprise before he schooled his face in something more neutral. “You’re welcome,” he said. 

They sat next to each other in silence for a few minutes, one of those awkward, stilted silences that weigh down on you. Gavin refused to help the conversation along: he did his part by starting it, now it was up to the wolfman. He was fine with the silence by the way, it gave him a chance to check out the rest of the patrons of the bar. There were quite some handsome men in tonight, the big question was if they’d swing his way.

“So…” Niles said awkwardly after a while. “We have our first case.”

“Yup.” Gavin took another sip of his beer. “Let’s not fuck it up.”  
He let his eyes fall on a tall, dark-haired man. He looked like he came straight from the office, maybe a lawyer at one of fancy those offices with at least two or three names on the wall. The man met his eyes when he too looked over the crowd and he paused long enough for Gavin to pull his lips into a half smirk. 

“Why would we?” Niles asked. Oh, yes, his partner was still talking to him. “It’s an interesting case. I’m looking forward to get started.”

“Oh, it’s a good case. Might be a big one too, if we’re lucky.” He pointedly looked his partner over. “I just don’t know if it’s a good idea to put _ you _on it.”

That got the were riled up. He turned his body towards Gavin and balled his fist on top of the polished wood of the bar. “What does _ that _ mean?”

Gavin shrugged, lifting his beer to his lips again. “Just saying. A were handling a hate crime against his own species? Sounds like a shit idea.”

“Why? Because I would favour my own kind?” Niles voice was clipped, he was clearly getting angry. “I am an officer of the law, Reed. I don’t favour anybody.”

“Geez, Pluto, don’t get your panties in a twist! I’m just saying, it would be the same thing if I were handling the anti-gay violence cases.” Gavin flexed his right hand, automatically focusing in on the white scar across his knuckles. “Someone would get hurt, and it wouldn’t be me.”

Niles scrunched up his nose in disgust. It was one of the few expressions that made his features less attractive. “Not only you hate weres, but gays too? How in the world did you ever get a badge?!”

Gavin turned his head to him in disbelief. “You might want to consider asking the Great Wizard for a brain, Toto.”

For a short second it looked like Niles would deck him across the jaw right there and then, yet the were’s jaw went slack when comprehension filtered through his - apparently still present - brain. “You… you’re gay?”

The detective didn’t deem that with an answer. He was not planning on declaring his sexuality to Niles, no matter how comfortable he was with it. Stupid questions simply didn’t deserve an answer.

Niles wasn’t done stammering, getting visibly flustered. “I… I didn’t peg you to be the type.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and bit down on the peg jokes he could make. He was aware that most people didn’t expect him to be gay, with his job and his rough looks and all. “What? Because I don’t dress up in rainbows? Talk about stereotypes. Now who’s the bigot here?”  
He pushed himself away from the bar, effectively fed up with the conversation. Niles stared after him, at a loss for words at once. 

When he pushed past Tina she raised an eyebrow at him, though she easily let him go. He had some pent up energy to release and he had some ideas about how to do that.   
Gavin was quick to find the tall stranger at the other end of the bar. He flashed him a smile and put his hand on his lower arm to get the tall man to lean down a little. The detective put his mouth near his ear, smiling in anticipation.   
“It’s my birthday, wanna fuck?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's Gavin, folks. Always crass.


	7. Born or bitten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Niles start their first official investigation. It opens up a whole world of information for Gavin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gavin is a bit less of a dick in this one, which is nice for a change ;-)

It was too early to go to work, yet taking a detour to his flat to shower and get changed would mean running late. And he couldn’t be late, not today, not when he had that interview for their new case. So Gavin told the cabby to take him straight to DPD Central Station, if he was lucky there was a change of clothes in his locker. And if not, well,  _ fuck it _ .

It went the way of  _ fuck it _ and Gavin found himself waiting next to his car in yesterday’s clothes, clutching a cup of coffee and smoking a cigarette. He made a mental note to put a new change of clothes in his locker; not that he was in the habit of often needing fresh clothes after a one night stand. The guy he had picked up last night was nothing more than a one time lay; he had no mind of calling the dude, had not even left a note when he got out of the flat early this morning. It was not like the night had been that memorable, Gavin even had to play the birthday trump card to end up topping. He was nothing if not versatile, yet with this slick lawyer prick he wanted to keep the upper hand.

He was waiting for his partner to come out of the building so they could go interview the assault victim. He’d seen him briefly when he went in for coffee; the tall, dark-haired were was sitting behind his desk, presumably catching up on the last details for their case. It was his first real case after all, at least at the DPD. Gavin realised he knew nothing of his partner’s background, except that he was a werewolf and Connor’s younger brother. For him to start as a detective - junior detective - at the DPD, he’d had to have built up some track record, somewhere. If he really was promoted to the rank of detective solely based on being a werewolf, that would be some fucked up affirmative action right there.

Movement at the steps by the main entrance of the precinct caught his eye and he tossed the stub of his cigarette away, ready to get in the car. Time to get moving.

“Wait, Reed,” the wolfman called. “Here!” He tossed him something, hitting him straight in the chest with it when Gavin turned to him and failed to catch the thing in one try. 

It was a can of deodorant, Marine fragrance. “What the fuck is that for?”

Niles opened the door on the passenger side of the car. “I could smell you all the way from the break room earlier. You could’ve taken a shower this morning, just saying.”

There was a whole load of insults right on the tip of his tongue, yet Gavin swallowed them all. First of all, he had indeed not showered this morning and he was feeling kind of dirty in yesterday’s clothes. Second, he had to do an interview with a werewolf victim. If they had as good a nose as his partner had, he would make a very bad impression and that wouldn’t help the interview.   
Grumbling, he royally sprayed the deodorant on his body and clothes. They didn’t call it ‘shower in a can’ for nothing.   
He got in the car and wordlessly handed the can back to its owner.

“Keep it,” Niles said simply and Gavin tossed the can to the back seat. 

He put the address in the GPS and pulled out of the parking lot. They would be there in less than half an hour, if the morning traffic wasn’t working against them. Most of the ride was done in silence, until the were spoke up, after side-eyeing Gavin for some minutes.  
“It’s dangerous, you know that, right?”   
He continued after Gavin raised an eyebrow in silent question.   
“Picking up strangers at a bar.”

“Stranger,” Gavin deadpanned. “Not plural.”

“You know what I mean,” Niles answered, irritation rising in his voice.

“Sweet of you to be worried,” Gavin drawled teasingly, “but I can handle myself. I’m a cop, remember?”

“Then you should know better! About three percent of the male population in the US have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. One out of ten rape victims is male.”

“Christ, what are you? A walking encyclopedia on rape?”

“That’s only the numbers on reported rapes,” Niles continued unperturbed. “Just because you have a gun and a badge, you are not untouchable.”

Gavin smirked. “I am most certainly not untouchable. There was a lot of touching last night. A lot.”

“Why do you always have to be so crude?” Niles crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked out the window on his side of the car.

“It’s a gift,” Gavin chuckled, relenting a bit when he caught a glimpse of his partner’s angry furrow in the reflection of the window. “Do you also have statistics on werewolf crimes in that brain of yours?”

“I just know that the official numbers are way off,” the were answered reluctantly. “They are top heavy on the perpetrator side, making it seem like all werewolves are violent and ruthless.”

Gavin’s mind supplied an image of Niles ripping off the heads of practice dummies, but he said nothing. As much as he liked to rile his partner up, they were almost at their destination and he needed this interview to go well.   
“So, you’re saying that there are more crimes against werewolves than we know of?”

“Definitely.”

“But they’re not getting reported?” 

“That’s what I’m implying, yes.”

Gavin turned the car into a suburban neighbourhood; it looked like a regular Detroit suburb, if not a little on the upscale. White and grey houses with a little front porch sat on trimmed lawns. Today was trash day, with dark grey trash cans lining the sidewalk.   
“Why not report it? Shame?” Gavin could imagine there was some shame involved if a big bad wolf got one upped by a regular human.

“We…” Niles hesitated for a moment, as if he had to think twice about telling Gavin this. “We take care of our own.”

Gavin scoffed. “Bunch of fucking vigilantes, huh?”

“We are not a pack of lawless savages, detective,” Niles spat, always quick to get angered by Gavin. “The Law of the Pack is very strict. And it allows us to settle disputes internally.”

“I wonder if U.S. Law also allows that,” Gavin mumbled, killing the engine of his car. He gestured to the house. “Law of the Pack or not, this werewolf here reported his assault to the police. Why would he do that if you guys usually take care of things behind closed doors?”

“I don’t know,” Niles said with a slight shrug. “We’re here to find out, aren’t we?”

Max Owens was a gangly kid of 20 years old, looking young for his age. He lived with his mother, a woman in her late forties. Where she looked the part of a werewolf, with the strength Gavin felt in her handshake and the grace in which she moved, her son didn’t look like he had any wolf blood. Yet him being a werewolf was the reason he was attacked, last friday night. He sported a shiny black eye as evidence, and the report mentioned other injuries that were now hidden underneath his clothes.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Gavin said, “why did you wait until monday to report the incident?”

The kid sat hunched over on the couch, almost disappearing in his oversized hoodie. He shrugged, the movement almost invisible underneath the excess of fabric. His mother, on the other hand, sat alertly on the edge of her seat next to him. She had her hands clasped between her knees, maybe to help her keep them still. Gavin had the impression she wanted to pace the room.

“We didn’t want to report it at first,” Mrs. Owens said at last. She looked at Niles when she said that, with a look that told Gavin she possibly had reported it to a different authority first. 

“You went to the pack?” he asked innocently, gauging her reaction. When her eyebrows shot up and her eyes flitted between him and his partner in an almost panic, he knew he was right. She went to the pack first, where she got the lid on the nose for some reason. 

“Why didn’t they help you guys?”   
He was treading on thin ice here. This whole werewolf pack stuff was well out of his range of knowledge. He knew wolves ran in packs, of course, he’d seen enough nature documentaries to know that. And he also knew the werewolves were organised in a similar nature, with local chapters binding together in a larger pack. Detroit was home to one of the main packs of the region, he’d learned as much in his course on werewolves a few years back. The packs were usually not associated with crime syndicates or other outlaw organisations, so the information on how they worked was background information only. The werewolves were very private about their affairs too, there wasn’t much known to the public about the inner workings of the werewolf world. 

Gavin had mostly focused on the physical differences between werewolves and regular humans, and what their behaviour meant for him if he encountered one in the field. You know, what does a werewolf look like, what can he do and how do I take one down if necessary?  
Besides, the public knowledge on werewolves was still fairly new. Until about ten years ago their existence was mostly an urban myth, a persistent myth that gained more and more traction over the years, up to the point that the existence of werewolves could no longer be denied. It took the hard work of lobbyists and scientists to give the werewolves the place in society they now had; one of the many minority groups the country had plenty of.

At first, the government responded with measures that were mainly directed on how to control this ‘new’ addition to the population. Regular handcuffs were not always enough to restrain a full blooded were and it was also a bad idea to put them in a shared cell during those nights when the moon was full. Eventually, things shifted to the point where werewolves were hired into the military and police forces. After all, if someone has inhuman strength and speed, you better make good use of it, right? And it wasn’t like there weren’t already some werewolves in the force anyway, they had just kept their little secret under wraps. 

“The pack wouldn’t help us because they’re racists,” the kid spat suddenly, earning a reproving look from his mother. “What? It’s true!”

“Your origin doesn’t have anything to do with their decision,” Mrs. Owen said, her words measured. Her son huffed, turning back to his sullen state.

His mother turned to the two detectives. “My son is not a born were,” she said, as if that explained everything. To Gavin it meant shit.

Niles seemed to understand though. “When?” he asked the kid, his face a mix of sympathy and worry. 

“When I was sixteen,” the boy answered gruffly. He pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms around his knees. “I asked a friend to do it.”

“To do what?” Gavin was confused. The way the topic was discussed made it seem like it was something bad.

“Bite me,” the boy said, only it was not an insult. He really meant being bitten.

That rang a bell somewhere in the back of Gavin’s brain. Surely there had been something in the course about biting and werewolves. He remembered that a single bite of a werewolf did not turn you into one, unlike some of the more popular urban myths said. Important knowledge when you are in a scuffle with one, trying to bring the fucker in. Some people fought you hand and teeth, literally. When he was still a beat cop Gavin had once been bitten by a homeless guy, not a werewolf as far as he knew. However, the boy implied that he was now a werewolf because he was bitten by one. Gavin didn’t have a clue about how that came to be.

Niles had pulled out a tablet and he was scrolling through the initial statement the boy had given when he reported the assault. “You said you were attacked by three unknown males, who first called you names and then started to assault you. It says here you identified one being a werewolf, how about the other two?”

“I’m not sure,” the boy said. “I think they’re weres, but I couldn’t really get a good scent on them.”

The werewolf detective nodded. “This was probably why the pack didn’t accept your plea? Because there is no conclusive evidence this was a crime of weres against weres.”

Mrs. Owen nodded, wringing her hands between her knees. She was clearly uncomfortable about the whole thing. Gavin let Niles talk the boy through his statement, his own mind racing a mile a minute because of all the new information. 

He wondered if he had really paid that little attention during his class on werewolves, or that there was still a lot of important information that was unknown to the public. You’d say that organisations like the DPD needed some more inside information, right?

Unable to reach conclusions on his own, not without having more details, he decided he needed to question his partner. As soon as possible.

***

Soon meant the moment they were back in the car. “You’ve got some explaining to do,” Gavin demanded as they drove down the street. 

“I figured as much,” Niles said with a sigh. “Where do you want me to start?”

He didn’t wait to dive in. “What is the difference between being bitten and being born as a were?”

“Origins, for one.” the were started to explain. “You can be born into the pack or get added to it on a later age. It can influence your position in the pack. There are some lone wolves too, those are often bitten weres.”

“You’re a born were, right?” 

Niles nodded. “Both of my parents were werewolves. Children from two werewolf parents are full blooded weres.”

Gavin notioned some sensitivity in the mentioning of his parents in the past sense, though that was a can of worms he didn’t want to open yet, if ever. So he followed up on a hunch he had, one that would explain why Niles in his human form was stronger than some of the half shifted weres he had arrested back in the day. “Are some bloodlines stronger than others?”

The werewolf nodded again and told him how werewolf families that mixed with regular humans produced lesser werewolf offspring, resulting in werewolves with diminished abilities or children without any werewolf traits at all. “Mrs. Owen was married to a non-were. Her oldest son inherited her werewolf genes, her youngest didn’t.”

“So he got himself bitten to change that?” 

“Yes. It’s a complicated process, with uncertain results. Often the newly created werewolves go through a lot of…” Niles halted his explanation and altered his words. “Let’s just say they need a lot of help and guidance. Max Owen was lucky to have his mom, yet there are a lot of bitten weres that end up in a bad place.”

The junior detective went on explaining how a lot of the weres the DPD encountered, were bitten werewolves. Apparently the process of turning into a werewolf rewired your brain to make place for more animalistic instincts. And those needed to be controlled; if not, the newly made werewolf had a strong tendency towards violence and addiction, sometimes even mental illnesses.

“Not to mention the strain of the physical alterations,” Niles admitted. “The pain is enough for most to turn to alcohol and drugs. Or worse.”

From his tone of voice Gavin could imagine what ‘worse’ meant. He also guessed that his partner had experienced those things from up close, if not himself then from people around him. 

“Is it the same for born weres?” 

“It’s easier to be born with it, you literally grow into it,” the wolfman said with a wry smile. “Which doesn’t mean that the alterations don’t hit us just as hard, we are simply more prepared.”    
“You know how your body changes when you hit puberty?” he tacked on and Gavin shrugged non-committedly in answer. “Getting hair in unexpected places, losing your teeth as if you’re seven years old again, the broken bones…”

Gavin scrunched up his nose in wary disgust. “Sounds like a doozy.”

“I’ve spent most of my days in bed from when I was twelve until I was about eighteen.” The werewolf went for sounding detached, though he didn’t succeed all the way. “Not unusual for full blooded weres. It takes a lot on the body.”

“Then why wasn’t Max in bed?” Gavin pressed on, determined to stay focused on the case. The information his partner was revealing about himself was fascinating, if not a little scary, yet hearing that werewolves went through painful transformations did not make the were his best friend all of a sudden. Hell, puberty was hard for any kid. Try discovering your sexuality while dealing with an alcoholic mother who brought home one deadbeat guy after the other, often jokingly introducing them as ‘your new dad’. 

“I don’t know how much change he went through,” Niles answered thoughtfully. “Maybe he is not able to fully transform, it happens more often than we’d like.”

That gave Gavin the unsettling image of partially transformed werewolves, running around with just their head or their lower body changed into wolf-like features. He was once again reminded of the fact that he had only ever seen photographs of werewolves, he’d never encountered a fully transformed werewolf in the flesh. Except that one in the woods, twenty years ago.

He nervously rubbed the scar at the bridge of his nose. He had the unnerving feeling he was about to jump into a particularly dirty cesspool and he really didn’t like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the info dump. Was it too much? I appreciate all of your feedback.


	8. The Law of the Pack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Niles make a stop at home before visiting another person of interest of their investigation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to keep you waiting!

At a large intersection Gavin signalled to go right. It was only a short drive to the department from here. “Make a left,” Niles suggested out of the blue.

“Why? The station is that way.”

“We need to go somewhere first.” He gave Gavin a once over, his nose the tiniest bit wrinkled. “Actually, we need to make two stops.”  
Gavin didn’t need his experience as a detective to know what the werewolf meant. His first instinct was to tell him to go fuck himself, that he was perfectly presentable to go anywhere. He was a police detective for fucks sake, it was not as if he would be attending a gala or had to visit the queen of England!

Nevertheless, he took a left and parked at his apartment complex a little while later. And if Niles followed him from the car and patiently waited behind him while he unlocked the door, well, that just showed how decent of a man Gavin could be. Right? He didn’t make his partner wait in the car.   
He didn’t invite him up either. Niles simply followed him, as if it went without saying that he could wait at Gavin’s apartment while the man took a shower at his request.   
“Fucking pushover,” he grumbled at himself when he disappeared into his bedroom. Listening to what the werewolf told him to do felt wrong, yet at the same time he couldn’t really argue with the logic of it; he needed a shower and some fresh clothes. 

He left Niles to fend for himself in the living room. It wasn’t until he was dressed down to only his boxers that he remembered to tell him off. Gavin ran back to stick his head outside the door of his bedroom. “Hey, hairball, leave the cats alone, you hear me!?”

The werewolf looked up from his crouched position in front of the recliner. On a pillow in the big chair was the real hairball of the two: one of Gavin’s two cats. It was the small greyish one, Salt. The cat was still in her curled up sleeping position, but her eyes were trained on the man that was an arm’s length away from her. 

Niles straightened out, giving Gavin a disdainful look. “I’m sure your cats don’t care if I’m here, Reed.”

Gavin made a face. “Whatever. They don’t like dogs. Keep away from them.” He shut the door forcefully and stomped over to his bathroom for a shower. Fucking werewolf. In his home.

He took his time in the shower, just to spite his partner. Yet when he came out, it didn’t look like he inconvenienced him in the slightest. The werewolf was sitting on his couch, his ankle pulled up on his other knee, a half empty coffee cup in his hand. Niles saw him staring, ignored the dark look and lifted the coffee cup to him. “Hope you don’t mind. I saw you had a Nespresso machine and I thought I’d help myself.”

Gavin’s jaw ticked. He was a second away from yelling at his partner. For what? For making himself a cup of coffee while he waited? For making himself at home? For…  _ for fucks sake _ ! On the couch cushion next to Niles was Salt, sprawled out in contentment, her head resting against his thigh.  “Fucking traitor,” he hissed at her.

Niles eyed him warily before he emptied his coffee cup in one swig and stood up to bring it to the kitchen; he filled the cup with a little water and left it neatly in a corner of the sink. Perfect manners, just the thing to piss Gavin off. The junior detective grabbed his jacket from where he left it hanging over a kitchen chair. “You ready?” 

“To visit the wolf queen? Sure.” Niles told him their destination in the car earlier. It would be something of a social slash work visit, hoping to get some extra intel. Gavin clenched his jaws and forced his arms roughly inside his leather jacket. “You better not left dog hairs all over my couch.”

“Don’t worry, the layer of cat hairs prevented that,” was the cool reply. 

Gavin knew he fucked up. If he couldn’t rile up Niles with a dog comment, it meant that  _ he _ was way more agitated than the wolf man, and, more importantly, that the other was well aware of that. He needed to calm the fuck down and take the lead again, because there was no way in hell he was going to be ordered around by a fucking dog in human skin.

***

The head honcho of the Detroit area werewolves did not live in a cave, like wolves ofen do. Gavin thought better of mentioning that to his partner. They had a whole row in the car already, about whether or not Gavin could go inside the house. Or villa, because the widespread Victorian home was rather huge.  Gavin and Niles got out of the car and both stared up at the house for a moment. While Gavin was whistling under his breath because of the unexpected splendor of it all, Niles looked rather grim.  “Remember, let me do the talking,” the werewolf detective reminded him, setting off towards the front door. 

Gavin rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands down his pockets instead of flipping Niles off behind his back. The werewolf had made it very clear that the woman they were meeting was very formal and headstrong and that she wouldn’t appreciate the arrival of two police men on her front step. If they wanted to get anywhere with her, they would have to be on their best behaviour.

The door opened before Niles could lift the ornate knocker and announce their presence; the cameras by the front gate already did that for them. In the door opening appeared a tanned, young man, about Niles his age. He had a buzz cut and his heterochromatic eyes immediately called Gavin’s attention because of his intense gaze. The man took Gavin in from head to toe, clearly sizing him up.  “Niles,” he said measuredly, not once taking his eyes off Gavin. “Long time no see.”

“Can we come in, Markus?”

“You’re not one for surprise visits.” The man named Markus finally shifted his gaze to Niles.

“This is not just a social call,” Gavin said, ignoring the angry glare he got from his partner. He showed his badge. “DPD. I am Detective Reed and this is my partner. May we come in?”

“By all means,” Markus scoffed and he waved them in, opening the door wider. 

They followed the man, who walked around barefoot in sweatpants and a tank top, to a large kitchen. The space was as grand as the rest of the house, with granite counters and one of those old fashioned stoves with a double oven. The kitchen opened up to a dining room that looked out over the garden. There was a large oval table, in beautiful dark, red wood. At it sat a woman who Gavin guessed was in her late forties, maybe early fifties. She had dark skin and her hair was braided in an intricate pattern of cornrows, all neatly bundled up at the back of her head. The woman was peeling apples, passing them to a young girl next to her, who carefully diced them.  “Amanda,” Markus said, “Niles is here. He brought a friend.”

“You’re early, Niles,” she said without looking up from her work. “We’ve only just started on the pie.”

“I’m not here for your apple pie, Amanda. I’m working.” Although Niles didn’t sound all that warm, a certain familiarity couldn’t be denied.  
It made sense that Niles knew the head of the pack, though Gavin had not expected them to be this close to each other. He really should ask his partner more questions about his personal and professional background.

“You know I don’t like it when you come here waving your badge around.” The woman didn’t stop peeling the apples, the sharp knife with the wooden heft slicing spirals of red and yellow skin. 

“We just want to talk to you, about a case that involves one of our own.” Niles was tensed, visible in the way he clenched his jaw and raised his shoulders infinitesimally. 

If his partner was tensed, so was Gavin. This was werewolf territory, if the werewolf himself wasn’t comfortable, it said volumes about how the regular human should feel. Nevertheless, the situation didn’t look all that bad. The woman and the kid were peeling and dicing apples, a very homey situation. And that Markus dude was lounging against the kitchen counter, his arms loosely crossed in front of his chest. He didn’t look interested in the conversation at hand. Gavin guessed he was the muscle, or something like it. He could be a relative of the woman at the table, or simply someone who worked for her.

“You’re talking about the youngest Owens boy,” Amanda answered coolly, handing the girl next to her another apple. 

“Max Owens,” Niles nodded. “I was wondering why you threw out his case?”

It was a simple question, yet Amanda’s eyes shot daggers suddenly. She pointed her knife towards where Gavin was standing a few feet behind Niles. “We are not talking about this with  _ him _ in the room.”

Niles frowned. “I don’t want to take you in for questioning, Amanda. I hoped we could just talk about this.”

Amanda stared at him for a second and then turned to the girl beside her. “We’ll finish this later, Molly. Go play in your room for a bit.” 

She watched the girl leave the kitchen before she stood up from her chair and walked over to Niles. Niles stood his ground when Amanda faced him and the whole thing reminded Gavin of a mother grounding her son. She didn’t raise her voice, yet her anger was laced through every word.  “You disappoint me, Niles. You, out of everyone, should know the weight of the Law of the Pack. We don’t discuss pack business with outsiders and we don’t involve the police!”

“I’m not an outsider,” Niles argued. 

“Are you?” Markus sniped. He had taken a few steps closer, so he was in Niles’ his line of sight. “You made a pretty big point about not being part of the family last time.”

Gavin guessed Niles was the bigger person, because he ignored the guy. Amanda did too, but he had the feeling she ignored a lot of people. 

“My door is always open to you,” Amanda said in a tone that did not convey any of the hospitality of the message. “But you’ve got to leave this silly business by the door.”

“That ‘silly business’ is an official police investigation, madam,” Gavin interrupted, fed up with the situation. “If you don’t cooperate, we are forced to -”

“Markus, would you kindly show our guests out?” Amanda talked over him, completely disregarding the detective.

“What the fuck was that!?” Gavin yelled at his partner when the large door closed behind them a couple of minutes later.   
Niles ignored him and stalked towards the car. The werewolf was clearly angry, though he said nothing, even when he had to wait for Gavin to open the car. The detective pushed the little button on his key fob, fixing his partner with his stare over the roof of the car. “You better start talking, asshole. Why the fuck do I feel like I just met your mom?!”

The werewolf yanked the car door open and left Gavin staring after him with just one word: “Stepmom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry to keep you waiting so long for an update! Life got in the way. Things got really stressful and busy at work a couple of months ago and it has come to the point that the word 'burn out' suddenly has real meaning. It has left me with hardly any headspace for writing and this wasn't the easiest chapter to begin with already. But, I got it out!
> 
> I can't make any promises for the next chapters. I will continue the story, but it might take a while. Thought about putting it on hiatus, but it is more a case of 'updates will come when they come'. Hopefully you can understand that. Patience is a virtue, they say ;-)
> 
> Hearing from you in the comments means a lot, so I hope you'll drop me a message!


	9. Waiting game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Niles encounter a lot of resistance during their investigation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited and posted this on my phone. I apologise in advance for any weird mistakes.

Gavin twisted his seat from side to side while he waited for the video to load on his screen. Niles was on the other side, sitting at his own desk, typing away at his computer. Those videos required a lot of paperwork, even though they came from cameras in the public space. 

They hit a snag at the Stern mansion the other day. Or the _ Arkay - Stern mansion _, as Gavin had now learned that Amanda Stern was stepmom to Niles and Connor Arkay since they’d been in their early teens. The werewolf refused to talk to him at first. He only opened up - little by little and very reluctant - after Gavin shut the two of them in an interrogation room and shut off the video and audio feed. He also threatened to not open that door until Niles had told him shit.

Connor was 11 years old when their mother died of cancer, Niles a child of only 8. It is rare for weres to die from illnesses, but a brain tumor gets even the toughest people on their knees. The werewolf detective sounded robotic and detached when he told his partner the short version of his life story. 

He was practically werewolf royalty: his parents ran one of the biggest packs of Northern America. After his mother’s death some chapters of the pack split off; the way Gavin understood it, Mrs. Arkay had been one hell of a woman. The main Detroit pack still remained influential though and Niles’ father was a well respected leader throughout the country. He remarried after a couple of years. “For political and practical reasons mostly,” according to Niles. 

Like the Arkay family, the Sterns were a family of full blooded weres. Proud ones at that, too. Amanda Stern had been one of the key figures in the introduction of the werewolves into modern society. She was adamant that werewolves deserved their own place in the world and didn’t need to hide. “A woman on a mission,” Niles called her. 

That woman also guided Connor, but mostly Niles, through their transition into adulthood; the whole gruesome ‘growing into your werewolf body’ thing. Connor spent a large portion of his late teens and early adult years abroad, with his mother’s family in Europe. Niles was homeschooled by Amanda and a variety of tutors. With his father travelling a lot and Connor overseas, he had to rely on Amanda. Niles was visibly torn about that. “She made me into the man I am today, yet I can’t stand by her more recent choices.”

Those choices caused the split between Niles and the rest of the family. After their father died in a car accident - Gavin’s mind immediately provided the suggestion of foul play, though he said nothing - Amanda had taken over as leader of the pack. 

“She is a hardliner,” Niles explained. “She’s always had very… _ strong _ ideas about what it meant to be a werewolf. She is proud of her bloodline and what it stands for.” He sighed and wrung his hands tighter together. “My parents, especially my mother, cared about our community as a whole. Worked hard to _ keep _ it whole. Amanda’s vision isn’t that inclusive.”

In other words: Max Owens was right and he was shut out for racist reasons. 

Those were Gavin’s words though. Niles was reluctant to accuse his stepmom of racism; he figured she followed the Pack rules on this and those said to dismiss the case because of ‘outsider involvement’. 

All in all, their visit to Amanda Stern did nothing for their case. It did provide more of a detailed background to Niles Arkay, who eventually followed Connor’s example and went to Europe. His family’s connections and no doubt excellent educational records landed him a job with Interpol, in the wake of his older brother. That explained his quick and sudden rise within the ranks of the DPD and, if you asked Gavin, his stuck up attitude. 

The video finally loaded and Gavin dropped forward with his elbows on his desk to sift through the footage. It was one of many videos from cameras in the vicinity of the scene of the attack on Max Owens. It had happened at a strip mall, after hours. During the day it was a fairly busy area, but after closing hours the streets were mostly empty. The boy had just closed up the coffee shop he worked at, his manager leaving only minutes earlier. Gavin had footage of the manager getting into his car and driving off undisturbed; questioning the man would not gain them anything helpful. 

At the end of the day, he had selected various clips to show Niles. A meager result, after hours of staring at gritty security camera footage. Gavin rubbed the palms of his hands over his eyes, squeezing them shut in an attempt to get rid of the dry ache of his eyeballs.

“Can you send the clips to me?” Niles asked, glancing around his monitor towards Gavin.

“It takes at least half an hour to load one video,” he groused in reply. “I’m not sending you shit. You can watch ‘m at my terminal.” The detective pushed his chair back and fished a pack of cigarettes from the top drawer of his desk. He gestured to his now empty chair: “All yours. I’ll be back.”

When he got back, he didn’t even get in Niles’ field of vision before the were started talking to him. “These images are all too gritty or too far away to be of real use to us.” 

Niles pulled up some stills from the videos, those were the most clear images of the suspects they could pull from the cameras.

“Yeah, I figured,” Gavin said on a sigh. He dropped the pack of smokes back in the drawer. His partner’s nose crinkled, but there was no comment. The were probably thought he smelled bad after smoking.

“Their car is a rental, we could ask for the records.”

Gavin nodded. “Already filed a request with the company. Damn privacy legislation makes this whole thing nothing but a waiting game.”

Niles stretched his arms against the edge of the desk, pushing the chair back. He was frozen in that position for a moment before he abruptly stood up. “If we go now, we can be there before closing time.”

“Where?” Gavin watched his partner turn off the terminal and automatically reached for the jacket that hung of the back of his chair. “We’re going to that strip mall?”

“Are you coming?” Niles was already halfway to the exit, calling to him over his shoulder. 

Gavin quickly followed the werewolf out, jumping on his train of thought. The shops were likely to have security cameras too, which might provide better images of what happened right outside. Max Owens had described being held up against the shop window, what if a camera picked that up from the inside?

***

As it turns out, there wa_s _ a camera that should have the perfect footage. 

“I don’t know what to tell you, officers, it’s a fake.” The shopkeeper had the audacity to look apologetic. He’s a bulky man, with stronger shoulders than you would expect on a phone case peddler in his early sixties. Gavin frowned at the man, not believing his words at all. From the moment they set foot into his phone repair shop the guy was acting cagey. 

Niles looked back at the counter from his position by the corner of the shop window. He was looking intently at the camera that was mounted in a corner of the ceiling. It was one of those dark, glassy domes, with one or hopefully multiple lenses inside. “The light is on.”

“It’s a good fake,” the shopkeeper argued. “No point in putting up a fake camera if everyone can see it’s a dummy.”

“There are wires going into the suspended ceiling,” Niles said undisturbed.

Gavin tapped his badge impatiently on the counter. “Look man, I don’t care what kind of shit you’re up to in your shop.” The phone cases underneath the glass counter were pink and bejeweled, or had exotic animals on them with fake gemstones for eyes. “We just want to see the footage from last week, that’s all.”

“I don’t record the foo-” The shopkeeper suddenly barged forward and rounded the glass counter. “What do you think you’re doing!? That is expensive equipment!” 

Niles put his foot on a shelf and had pushed himself up, so he could reach the camera. With one short pull he exposed the lenses underneath the dome. “One is angled towards the shop window and the entrance, we should be able to get a good view from it.”

“So,” drawled Gavin, “what’s it gonna be? One minute it’s a fake, the next one you’re not recording the footage and now you’re yelling at my partner for damaging your bogus security camera.”

The shopkeeper rounded on Gavin and standing toe to toe revealed how much bigger than Gavin the guy actually was. Not that he couldn’t take him. He could. Then the man growled. “Out of my store. Now!”

Okay. Maybe taking him on would prove to be a bigger challenge. Gavin was suddenly willing to bet good money on the man being a werewolf. 

“What the hell is your problem, man? We are just trying to figure out who assaulted that werewolf kid outside your store,” Gavin scowled, not budging in front of the bigger man. “You acting like this only gives me reason to bring you in, see if _ you _ got something to do with it!”

The werewolf shopkeeper almost put his hands on Gavin, before Niles reminded them of his presence. The young werewolf suddenly stood right next to Gavin, his back straight and his hands clasped behind his back. “Do I need to remind you that assaulting an officer is a felony, sir?”

The shopkeeper bristled, though he took a step back. “And you guys are abusing police power, barging in here to demand to see my security footage!” The man was exaggerating greatly, but that didn’t matter right now. He turned to Niles. “And you… How dare you threaten a pack member!”

Gavin expected Niles to blow up at such a comment, but he kept staring stoically at the man in front of him. Which was good, because someone needed to keep his calm here; and Gavin wasn’t really known for his ability to keep his mouth shut when needed. 

“I’m just stating the facts, sir,” Niles said. “Your help would be much appreciated, after all, this case concerns the pack too.” 

The shopkeeper scoffed. “Yeah, right. Then why are you waving your police badges around? Pack related, my ass!” He gave Niles a condescending look. “Last I heard, the Arkay kids turned their back on the pack. Why are you looking after some mutt anyway? The kid can’t even change properly!” 

“So what?” Gavin exclaimed, getting fed up with the guy’s behaviour. “Just because the kid can’t go full wolfy, he should get his ass kicked? What kind of racist bullshit is that?!”

Gavin had been in this kind of situation often enough that he knew they wouldn’t get anywhere with the man right now. Not when he blew up at the guy like that. Either the man was hiding something or he just hated the police, whatever the case, he wouldn’t give them the security tapes. And if he wouldn’t give them freely… 

“We’ll be back with a warrant,” he warned the man, giving in to the slight pressure from Niles’ hand on his elbow to direct him to the door. “You might as well lay those tapes out for us already.”

“They’re digital, you fucking nitwit,” the man spat back at him. 

Niles beat him to it to react. The were shook his head and opened the door of the shop to usher Gavin out. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear the name calling,” he said coolly. “See you soon, sir.”

Outside, Gavin angrily kicked an empty soda can down the sidewalk. “That son of a bitch!” Some people a little further down the sidewalk looked up to see what was the matter. He didn’t care, it wasn’t like he was wearing a uniform; they probably didn’t recognise him as a police detective. He didn't join the force to be a stupid role model anyway.

Niles wasn’t impressed. “We’ll be back later with the warrant.”

“That whole pack shit is not doing anything for us,” Gavin grouched. “If anything, it works against us.” He glared at his partner. “You’re not of any help either! You or your wolf buddies." He'd hoped that Niles being a werewolf made people more cooperative, but if anything, it was the opposite.

Niles shot Gavin a dark look. He didn’t say ‘fuck you’ out loud, but the message was clear. If there weren’t any people around, the wolf would probably be at his throat by now.

“Really helpful, those werewolves,” Gavin commented sarcastically. He opened the car door, already putting his foot inside to get in. “Whatever man, we’ll get a warrant, get that footage. And if that phone shop asshole turns out to be involved, I’ll happily arrest his ass. Pack law be damned, we follow U.S. law.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter really worked against me. It was difficult to keep Niles his character as close as possible to that of RK900. Although, he was barely in the game, so basically his character is what we make of it. Whatever, this is werewolf Nines, not android Nines. :-)  
This story is getting away from me anyway. I have such fun ideas for it, such fun scenes, but it's hard to string it all together. It's like the story has a mind of its own. 
> 
> Anyway, I'd love to hear your comments, thoughts and/or ideas!


	10. Linked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin listens to a hunch. And the detective duo digs up some more info about their case.

They didn’t have to wait long for their warrant to come through: every judge could understand the video footage of that shop could be very helpful in their assault case. Gavin gave in to a hunch and called in a favour from someone in their tech department. Technically, it was Tina who called in the favour; it wasn’t like Gavin was going round doing stuff for people all the time so they owed him something. The only reason Warren Reuther was sitting in the back of the police cruiser, was that Tina had introduced him to his current girlfriend - her cousin. Gavin found it too much of a hassle to arrange for tech support officially, especially when he was working from a gut feeling and that feeling could be off. Which is why he made Tina get the tech guy to come with them on short notice.

Niles didn’t question the presence of Warren in the back of the car; apart from a short nod and a courtesy good morning he barely acknowledged the presence of their co-worker at all. They drove to the strip mall in silence, with the radio quietly playing. Gavin didn’t feel like making smalltalk, Warren was immersed in his phone and Niles stared out of the window. The werewolf was sulking, that much was clear to Gavin. His partner was obviously frustrated by the lack of progress in their case. He probably expected the whole thing to go smoother, especially because he was working with his own people. Gavin had expected that too, he was only more used to this kind of disappointment when it came to cases. If a case looked pretty straight forward at first, it usually wasn’t; the smallest affairs could take ages to reach their conclusion. He had learned to take things one step at a time. And enjoy the small wins in the meantime.

“Hellooo,” Gavin called with fake cheer, opening the door of the shop. “We’re back!” 

The shop owner came through a door in the back, reacting to the noise. He immediately scowled when he saw they weren’t customers. “You better have a warrant with you,” he huffed. “Or else I’ll put your asses right out on the curb again.”

“So much for making people feel welcome,” Gavin grinned, motioning for Niles to get out the warrant. “But don’t worry, my partner here has all the necessary paperwork to make you hand over all of your security footage.” He kept smiling while the shop owner looked over the warrant, the man’s anger showing in the way a vein on the side of his head started to come out. “Now, if you would kindly show my other colleague where he can find the data, we’ll be out of your hair shortly.”

They all followed the shop owner to a small room in the back, too small for all four of them to fit in. The owner logged in on his computer and then made place for Warren to sit down. Gavin watched from the door opening how Warren clicked through folders, searching for the right data. 

“I could’ve done this myself, you know,” Niles whispered lowly in his ear from his place behind Gavin. “Not all of us are computer illiterates like you.” 

The detective snorted quietly. “I can work a computer just fine, Snoopy.”

“You had to ask Chen how to turn on your out of office autoresponder.”

Warren interrupted them before the detectives could continue their whispered discussion. “The files are not here, detectives. The log is inconsistent.”

“See?” Gavin said smugly, looking pointedly at his partner. “This is why I brought him.” He walked closer to Warren, leaning one hand on the back of his chair to look at the computer screen. “Think you can retrieve it?”

The young man already pulled his own laptop from his bag, ready to link it to the shop’s computer. “Pretty sure I can.”

And he could: about twenty minutes later he’d recovered the files the shopkeeper tried to make disappear the day before, not long after Gavin and Niles first visited his shop. Gavin couldn’t help the smug smile on his face when he put the handcuffs on the shopkeeper. 

***

  
  
When they got back to the precinct, there’s a small stack of files waiting on Gavin’s desk. A yellow post-it was attached to the top file. ‘Matching case files’ it said, in neat cursive handwriting.

“Connor’s,” Niles said, as he picked up the pile. “I asked him to look through his old cases for matches to our case.” 

“More assault cases?” Gavin asked, sitting down in his chair. 

Niles gave the pile a quick flip through before shaking his head. “There’s also a store robbery and some destruction of property.”

Gavin wondered what connection Connor saw in those. He may not like the werewolf very much, yet he couldn’t deny he’s a good detective; he wouldn’t dump those cases on them if it weren’t for a reason. However, their current case demanded his attention first. That shopkeeper was waiting in a holding cell for interrogation. Gavin would have to take a look at the security footage he tried to delete first, so he knew what he’s dealing with.

The images didn’t disappoint. The Owen boy was easy to recognise in the video, because he was the closest to the shop window. His three assaulters didn’t come into full view, but the video gave them much more to work with than the street cameras had. Gavin scribbled down a description for each person, based on what he could see. He also made screenshots of their most visible features. The man that pushed Max Owens up to the shop window obscured his face with a baseball hat, but he couldn’t hide the very distinctive scar on his jaw, the white line cutting his heavy stubble in two. 

“I know him,” Niles said from behind Gavin, startling the detective. 

“Fuck! Turn off the stealth mode, will ya?!” Gavin shifted in his chair uncomfortably. “Who is he?”

“I don’t know his name.” Niles ignored the very unimpressed face Gavin made at him. “But he hangs with the pack sometimes.”

“What the hell does that mean? Is he were or not?” Gavin turned his chair so he could face Niles, nearly bumping his knees against the other in the process.

“He’s a were, yes,” Niles answered measuredly, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He had not taken a step back though, so Gavin had to crane his neck to look him in the eye. “Not a member of the Detroit pack though.”

“Ah, a lone wolf?” 

“We call them roamers, but yes, he’s not affiliated with any pack.”

“Any way to figure out his name? We don’t have enough for the facial recognition software, provided he is in the system at all.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me if he has some misdemeanors to his name,” Niles admitted, “but I’m not sure. Markus should know him though, I believe they hung out every now and then.”

Gavin rolled his eyes. “That’s not helping. Markus isn’t gonna tell us shit.”

“ _ Us _ , no,” Niles said, pursing his lips in thought. “He might tell me, if I go alone.”

“You’re not going in alone,” Gavin answered immediately. The vibe he got from the werewolf enforcer - because he was convinced Markus was just that - wasn’t a good one. If Niles would go fishing for information by himself, who knows what might happen? It could damage the case. And Niles, he added grudgingly as an afterthought.  
“Besides, that shopkeeper might know his name too. He must have a reason to delete that footage, what if he did it because he knows the assaulters?”

Niles cocked his head to acknowledge the idea, a habit he shared with his annoying brother. “Possibly. You ready to interrogate him?”

“Just gotta print some screenshots,” Gavin nodded, turning his chair back to his computer. “And grab a coffee,” he added, more to himself. 

“I’ll get us coffee,” Niles said, already turning to head to the breakroom. “See you in five.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, sorry. This whole burn out thing is really getting to me, making it very hard to write. The lack of energy really drains my inspiration. But I'll get through it, one week at a time. We're getting closer to some fun wolf action stuff by the way. Something to look forward to! 
> 
> Anyway, updates are slow and irregular; you're probably used to that by now already ;-)
> 
> Please leave a message to tell me what you think about the chapter / story! I love getting feedback!

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up with your favourite Reed900 / DBH fanfics! I'd love to exchange tips with you.
> 
> Updates will be very irregular. Sorry about that. I don't have much time to write at the moment.


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